Data storage systems include data storage areas or locations serving as transient storage for host data for the purposes of performance or reliability enhancement of the device. Such temporary storage areas may be non-volatile and may be referred to as a cache. A storage controller of such data storage systems may use the various levels and types of cache to store data received from a host, cache read data from other, higher latency tiers of the storage device, and generally to improve the device performance. Alternatively, the systems may enhance data reliability in certain use cases by using the cache, for example, in case of a sudden or unexpected power loss. The data stored in media currently being written may be corrupted, but a back-up copy may be available in cache to maintain data integrity.